Improvement in condensers for steam-engines



S. GOGDWIN. Condenser for Steam-Engines.

No. 210,519. Patented Dec. 3,1878.

N.PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPMER. WASHMGTON- D C- m U-Nrrrrn STAT-Es PATENT Enron.

SIMEON A. GOODWIN, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN CONDENSERS FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

i Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 210,519, dated December 3, 1878; application iilcd January 11,1878.

. To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIMEON A. GOODWIN, of Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oondensers for Steam-Engines, of which the followin g is a specification:

Thisinvention relates to the class known as water-fall77 or siphon condensers.

Its objects are, rst, to obtain a better vacuum by providing a more efficient means of clearing out the air that enters the condensin chamber with the water; second, to adapt this class of condensers to convenient and economica-l use in quartz-mills for the reduction of silver ores; third, to heat the feed-water separate and apart from that used for condensation, and at a point in the exhaust-pipe so situated that it cannot run back to the cylinder of the engine to break it -fourth, to drain a tubular feed-heater located in the exhaustpipe.

How these objects are accomplished, or in what the invention consists, will be more readily apprehended by the aid of the dra-wings.

Figure l is an elevation. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the condensing chamber or pipe.

Similar letters indicate like parts in both figures.

A is the engine 5 E E E, the exhaust-pipe;

O, the condenser; I, injection-pipe 5 D, drainpipe; H, hot-well 5 B, location of quartz-mill stamps l), location ot' quartz-mill amalgamating-pans, both connected by suitable pipes with the hot-well tank H; o, inlet for feedwater to exhaust-pipe; G, outlet t'or same to conduct the feed-water to the pump m, tubular heater 5 X, drain-pipe to saine, having the small tank h at its outer end to keep it covered with water, to keep out air.

The condenser O is a long, narrow, conical tubel` its lower end connecting with the drainpipe D. The injection-pipe I has a plate attached to its lower end to spread t-he water. N is a short section of pipe, of larger diame. ter, bolted to the elbow ot' C by ilanges, and provided with a screwedortice lor the pipe G.

The feed-water passes through the tubes of the heater on, and the exhaust-steam around them.

The lower end ot' the injection-pipe should not be less than live feet above the height at which the water will stand in the drain-pipe D, by reason of the unbalanced atmospheric pressure with the usual vacuum. If the source of the injection-water is not high enough to insure that, the water will .easily rise into the condenser. After the -vacuum is started a pump may be used. A

It is usual to locate the hot-well at or near the water-level; but in this caseitis located sufficiently high for the water to liow from the stamps and pans, and the exhaust-pipe is extended vertically to suit this condition.

Operation: The spent steam of the engine passes by the exhaust-pipe to the condenser O, where it is condensed by the injection-water coming'in through I, and it all falls into thetoot ot' C and down D into the tank H. All water contains more or less atmospheric air, and when this comes into a partial vacuum it expands, and it' not immediately discharged from the condenser it would destroy the vacuum. The steam coming with great velocity into the conical tubetends to drive the uncondensable gases into its smaller or lower end, and at the same time the water, as it falls, is, by the converging walls of the pipe, driven into a smaller compass, and the air is thus caught and forced down by the water, which is much heavier, into the mouth of the pipe D, and nally is discharged into the tank H. From the hot-well tank H the water passes by gravity to the stamps and pans, heated to the temperature ot' 100O to 1300 Fahrenheit. This temperatureis not detrimental to its use in the stamps, and it results in considerable economy in the pans, as they are generally heated to 1500 to 2000. This plan thus enables us to use the same water for condensation, and afterward in the stamps and pans, and economizes all the heat in the water used in the pans, and that, too, without any additional machinery.

The feed-water enters the exhaust-pipe at o, and is heated to the temperature ot the exhaust-steam, which is several degrees hotter than the hot-well. The high velocity of the steam tends' to throw the water against and to carry it along the walls of the exhaust-pipe, and it will be caught around the elbow ot' the condenser and tlow down theA pipe C to the pump. If the pmnp should stop, or should more feed-Water be let into the exhaust-pipe than is required for the boilers, it will ow into the condenser, and not back to the cylinder of the engine. Another advantage of having the feed-heater located so high is, that it can be more readily pumped with so great a head, whereas it is quite impossible with an ordinary pump to draw water from a vacuum. It sometimes happens that impure water only is available for condensing, in which case, by this arrangement, the feed-water is heated separate and apart. l

Pipe Gis connected with the suction side of the feed-pump, which pump may deliver the water direct to the boiler or through the heater m, in which last case the pipe X is used to drain the heater of the water of condensation. rlhis is only feasible, however, in hilly countries, or in mines where the descent is so great that a column ot' water in the pipe will overbalance the atmosphere. This condition is quite common in the mining districts of the western coast of the United States, where I have employed it with perfect success. I find that the tubular heater increases the temperature of the water considerably.

Sometimes itis necessary to work the engine non-condensing, and for this purpose I have provided the cover c to the top ofthe condens-I ing-chamber C, that by its removal the steam may pass out that Way without obstruction.

rlhe various parts herein described as all Working together in one combination may, it is evident, be each used separately. The heater drain-pipe X may run either in a vertical or gradually-deseending direction, as circumstances require.

I claim as my inventionl. The long, narrow, conical, condensingehamber C, with its injection-pipe I, removable cover c, and pocket N, for catching the feed-water, substantially as described.

2. The combination ot' the condenser C, as described, with the hot-well H, stamps B, and pans P, arranged substantially as specified.

3. The combination ot' the condenser U and the tubular heater m with the drain-pipe X, arranged as shown, and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination ot'the pipe C with the pocket N, to conduct the feed-\vatcr to the feed-pump, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

S. A. GOODWIN.

YVitnesses:

JAMES H. GRIDLEY, SoLoN C. KEMON. 

